


Follow My Lead

by Sheffield93



Category: Castle
Genre: Beckett Lawyer AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 04:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4550013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheffield93/pseuds/Sheffield93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate Beckett is doing a favour for a colleague, his client has got himself arrested stealing a police horse and needs a lawyer. For her sins legal representation falls on her shoulders, at least it is only a onetime thing. Who she’s defending doesn’t click until she seems him in his cell. *Castle Summer Hiatus 2015 Ficathon Entry*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting for the First Time

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: If there is anything you recognise in this story then it probably isn’t mine. Castle belongs to ABC & Andrew Marlowe.  
> Posted on FF as well.

Chapter 1 - Meeting for the First Time

Kate Beckett wasn't just any attorney, she was the youngest ever partner at any of New York's top law firms. The day the news broke of her appointment, it had even made the paper as it was such esteem. She was Stanford educated, top of the class, passing the bar exams with flying colours, and had two parents who were highly respected in their own right. It was clear to everyone who knew anything about the top law firms that Kate Beckett had earned her place by herself and not because of her name or her parents' connections.

She was, however, a workaholic which was partly a consequence of being so successful. Her parents had merciless teased her about it, joking that she'd never find a husband if her companion with a glass of wine was a case file rather than a boy. They wanted grandchildren, her mother wanted an early retirement excuse and apparently at the current rate she wouldn't have that opportunity. They had set up dates for Kate but none of them had worked, they even felt like work. Not something that a relationship could use as a base.

Her success enabled to have a lovely yet so empty loft, sure it looked lived in but only the knickknacks made it seem a home rather than just a standard apartment. The pictures and artwork that decorated the walls along with the trinkets all had their own story. She still wasn't sure how she had accumulated so many, however, she didn't care. She would love to have more and hoped that soon she would be able to get some time off for a holiday where she could travel to a new country to explore. It was always just her though at night, sometimes she dreams of the day that she could come home to a family and not just quietness.

At this time though, there was no indication of when such a trip or rather time space would become available. Not only did she have more cases than she probably should have on going, she owed a favour to a colleague who wanted to cash in his 'I owe you' this week.

She would try to convince herself that it was just a sacrifice in working towards her dream of fighting a case in the Supreme Court before making her way up to becoming the first female Chief Justice. She was just hoping that John Glover Roberts Jr would hold on for a few years until she was in a place that she could earn her position for one of the most influential positions in the country.

Right now, though, she would be defending some celebrity who when apparently too influenced by alcohol had done something stupid. Her colleague, Henry, had called her up completely interrupting her date with a glass of wine and next week's court case file to ask to cash in that favour tonight.

Henry was popular with the celebrities, getting them off little niggly things that many seemed to think they were perhaps above the law. In all fairness Henry was a decent guy, when he helped her out she more than needed it. She was in high demand and the senior partner liked to pile work onto his newly promoted and thus recently famed partner of the law firm. He just loved the publicity that it brought to his firm. Since it appeared she was coping, barely though, the workload increased. Those she worked closely with knew that their boss was putting too much pressure on her so helped out. Eventually things evened out so she settled into a rhythm.

At least she hadn't had more than a few sips from her glass of wine, it wouldn't exactly be setting a great precedence if she turned up just a bit tipsy even though she could handle that amount alcohol. The many drinking games that she had endured through law school saw to that. It was only in the first couple of years that she played the games, as she progressed she studied harder and knuckled down. Not that she was only just getting by more that she needed to make sure she nailed everything.

On her way to the twelfth precinct she scanned over the notes on her iPad that her dearest colleague had sent her about his client scanning over the details. A few arrests but the charges were dropped...just flaming great. Maybe that would happen tonight so she could go home pretty quickly; back to her case file or perhaps just bed to get a good night of sleep.

It wasn't until she first saw her client in the holding cell that who it was finally clicked.

Richard Castle!

She loved his books, so did her mother; even her father at a push. He couldn't know that. This union had better be over by night's end. This is one complication she didn't foresee.

Hmm…


	2. Realisations

Chapter 2 - Realisations

She didn't allow her face to show any emotion which was something that being a lawyer had helped her to perfect. She stepped through to join him in his cell where his eyes were trained on her.

She began to divert his attention "Good evening, Mister Castle. My name is Kate Beckett I am here to represent you."

"Whoa, you're not Henry." He stammered, having clearly sobered up since his arrest or rather stupid actions.

"Well done, no I am not. This is me doing him a favour." She informed him of the current situation and why the hell she was here rather than his own attorney.

"You can owe Henry a favour anytime. You're much better looking than him." Castle admired.

"While that may be," Henry wasn't exactly the male model type, "I'm here to do a job and I will not have you getting in the way of that. Do you understand?" Beckett told him sternly.

"Yes ma'am." He replied. She hated the ma'am as it was him trying to make fun of her stature.

"So, did you do it?" Said lawyer mode Beckett.

"Can I use your phone?" Castle asked.

"That wasn't the question, Mister Castle, before I argue anything I need to know whether you actually did it."

"My phone got taken off me when I was first brought in. I called Henry first but I need to call Bob too." Castle explained unfortunately he had missed a few key facts.

"Who is 'Bob'?"

"Mayor Weldon, you don't know Bob?"

"Of course I know the mayor," well she at least knew of him, "just why do you need to call him?"

"So I can call him then?"

"Why, Mister Castle? Why do you need to call the Mayor?"

"Let's just say it will make your job a lot simpler if you just give me that fancy phone I know is in your bag."

"How is Mayor Weldon going to make my job easier?" She really wished that he would answer the damn question that she asked three times already.

"By getting the charges dropped." Castle states bluntly.

"What?" Beckett asked not quite believing or understanding what the heck Castle was on about. Maybe he was still drunk.

"He's a big fan and he does kind of run this city my dear."

"Really?" What idiot in New York doesn't know, at least, of Mayor Weldon? Did he really expect her to be that oblivious or incompetent? The fan part wasn't knowledge but not a surprise; they had been pictured together on occasion.

"Yeah, he comes to all my book parties, my poker games too. Hey, you should come to my parties, you would like them."

"You know his number?" Beckett asked having ignored the sort of invitation to his parties.

Castle nodded in response, slipping her phone out of her bag she unlocked it before passing it to him. They could easily stand there to bicker over who would talk to Bob but might as well get it over quicker.

The conversation was only brief but she was intrigued as to why Castle addressed the mayor as "Big Cheese".

Part of her expected him to peruse her photos before passing her phone back but was pleasantly surprised to see him correctly lock it and pass it to her the correct way around immediately after ending the call.

Deciding to take a seat on the bench she turned around before speaking once again, "I take it that because you're asking for the charges to be dropped you did it then?"

"Duh!" Castle returned the clearly overused eye roll from Beckett with a cheeky smile. He moved to sit next to her before continuing when she instantly moved to be slightly further away. "Hey, it is only little petty stuff. It's not like I killed anyone."

"You stole a police horse while naked." Beckett exclaimed, still in her head processing the complete idiocy of the crime.

"Correction, I borrowed it. As for the naked part...it is spring, it was thirty degrees out there today. You can't tell me that you weren't hot." He joked, sliding along the bench to be right next to her again. This time though she couldn't move any further along as she was at the wall now and the option of standing up wasn't alluring either.

"Castle, you could go to prison for this."

"Did you know that you have lovely eyes?"

Had the man got any concentration? "Castle, focus. This is serious. Just let me do the talking."

"There won't be any talking, why did you think that I lawyered up? Anyway, Bob said he would get right on it."

"Yeah, well what if it doesn't work, huh?" He clearly hadn't thought of that just assuming that Bob would be able to get him out of it.

"Okay." Castle conceded, even though he was confident Bob would come through for him. "So, why are you here and not Henry?"

"Because of my many sins." She joked half-heartedly as she didn't really want to be there.

"I'm sure you couldn't have done anything bad. Henry speaks highly of you; if it wasn't for my contract with him then I would have changed." Okay, Henry had only mentioned her once in any of their conversations and that was when he and his senior colleagues were debating on whether to promote her to partner or not. If he had known that Kate was as good looking as she was then he would have forced a meeting somehow.

"Sorry, Castle, this isn't my thing. I just owed him. I'm usually up to my eyes in cases and he took one for me." Kate elaborated on her earlier statement. She didn't defend clients when they got themselves into petty trouble, she did the more serious stuff.

"Well I'm glad." She turned her head sharply giving him a peculiar sideward glance. "No, sorry, I'm not glad you're busy I'm just happy that you turned up here tonight."

"I just hope the case I'm defending next week doesn't hate you for this."

"Who are you representing next week?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you." She actually couldn't, top secret case and all. If he blabbed to anyone about anything then she would be toast.

"Can't or won't?" Castle continued wanting to know as much about his new acquaintance as he could.

Before she could get frustrated by him anymore, an officer opened the door addressing them both. "Mister Castle, Ms Beckett, Detective Sharpe is ready for you."

The uniformed officer led them both to an interrogation room where they were joined moments later by a man who introduced himself as Detective Sharpe.

"Good evening, Ms Beckett. We've not had someone like you down here in a long time, so what did you do?" The slimy Detective asked her. She'd heard of types like him, they didn't like the fancy lawyers, the so called 'million dollar lawyers'. She hoped that this would be brief.

"Let us just get on with this, shall we?"

"As you wish." Sharpe conformed, before turning to Castle. "Mister Castle, you are aware of your actions today?"

Beckett cuts in before Castle can open his mouth to say something stupid. "My client will not be answering your questions."

"Ms Beckett, your client stole a police horse while naked." Detective Sharpe was clearly as impressed with Castle's actions as she was; in summary not at all.

"Detective Sharpe," Beckett began before being interrupted as probably the Captain of the precinct walked in excusing his officer. The intruder wore a suit that would have a price tag greater than the average detective could realistically afford. He seemed interesting and assertive which would be no real surprise.

While the Captain and Detective were outside, Beckett and Castle shared a look. Castle was pretty sure this was as a result of his phone call to Bob. Hopefully this would all be over in five, four, three, two...

"Mister Castle," Sharpe said as he re-entered the room, "it appears the charges are being dropped. You're free to go." The anger and frustration in the detective's voice clear for all to see. He will have hated the fact that her client's connections were able to get him out of scrapes. How exactly were people meant to learn if they never actually punished for their crime?

"Thank you, Detective." Beckett said still hoping that Castle would keep his mouth shut. They didn't need any more ammunition.

"I'm watching you, Mister Castle. The officer will take you to finalise the paperwork." Sharpe begrudgingly said.

"C'mon, Castle. Let's go." Beckett commanded as she led him out of the interrogation room following the officer.

Fortunately for Beckett, the paperwork didn't take long she still wanted to just go home and have something to eat. She'd also be able to go to sleep; a tired Beckett was never a good thing.

After the last of his belongings had been returned they exited the precinct where she intended to part ways but he had other ideas. Castle turned to her asking "well now that's over, can I take you to dinner? We could debrief each other."

"So I can be another one of your conquests? No, Mister Castle, this is it. I don't like the fact that you were able to have the connections to have the charges dropped. That isn't what the legal system is for." She reasoned. She wanted a relationship but just not with someone who so obliviously flaunts the law. They wouldn't work.

"Too bad, it would have been great." Castle smirked. Still hurt somewhat that she turned down his offer.

"You've no idea." Kate whispered teasingly into his ear.

He watches ominously as she walks away from him, he wanted to know more about her. He needed to know more, what made her tick, how she worked and more about Kate. Henry would be getting another phone call tonight.

Neither of them noticed the photographer who had snapped a picture of the two of them.

\---

Beckett arrived at work first thing as normal so she could get a good start to her day. When she walked up to her office she noticed her chair had its back to the door. She usually puts it under the desk neatly. Opening the door, the chair turns around to reveal the one and only Richard Castle who is wearing one hell of a smug grin and had an eyebrow raised.

Then she notices the two coffees on her desk from her favourite coffee shop, one with Kate written on the side the other has Castle. Dropping her bags by her door she moves to put her hand on her hip and gives him one almighty stare.

"Good morning, Counsellor Beckett."

She'll kill Henry.


	3. Got a Follower

Chapter 3 - Got a Follower

She'll not kill Henry because it isn't worth going to prison nor the added workload that she'd have to take on if she got away with it. She'll think of some drastic action of retaliation later on but right now there is a cocky writer sitting in her chair. That said writer doesn't seem intent on shifting either. Certainly not the way he picks up his coffee cup to take a quick drink from it.

"Move." Beckett commanded. No politeness in her voice, she was not in the mood for any of his shenanigans.

Fortunately for her he did move out of the chair even gentlemanly holding the chair out for her to take her rightful place. Unfortunately though he did not leave, instead he just moved the chair that was previously at the end of her desk to right next to her to sit in that one.

"Why are you here?" Beckett asked.

"For you, of course."

"I gathered that by your presence in my office but why are you here for me? If it was for thanking me or whatever for representing you last night it isn't needed seeing as I didn't do anything really." She turned up, let him use her phone then told him to keep quiet. Not much of an evening's work.

"Nonsense, Kate" Castle cleared up for her in his charming voice, "if it wasn't for you then I would not have been able to call Bob and then you really would have needed to defend me until I got released and then could call Bob."

He had a fair point yet it didn't fully explain why he was here with seemingly still no intention of leaving anytime soon.

"You've thanked me now, I appreciate the coffee" she really did appreciate the coffee it was just what she needed whereas he wasn't, "so you can go home now."

Castle nodded to acknowledge her statement but he still didn't vacate his chair. Kate though turned to her computer to log on hoping that her change in position might encourage him to not over stay his welcome any further.

"That's not all I'm here for" Castle explained.

"Really? What other service could I possibly offer you? My favour to Henry is paid so he is your attorney once again."

"Oh no, I'm not here for your legal counsel, I'm here for inspiration." He elaborated on his earlier statement, no idea how she would take the news but if Henry was correct - he usually was- it wouldn't be easy.

"Inspiration, huh?" This will be good.

"Yes, see I just killed off Derrick Storm which I'm sure you know given your reaction to seeing that I was your client." Damn. Her poker face clear hadn't worked then. "I need something new."

"You write crime thrillers, Mister Castle, specialising in murder not legal bores." Suggesting that it would just be a legal bore may get rid of him sooner.

"Touché."

"How exactly am I, an average attorney, going to inspire you with content that isn't just for a romantic scene which I'm sure you have seen enough of me already for that?" Beckett questioned further still oblivious of how he would use her as an inspiration for anything of any substance that people would read.

"I'm expanding my talents, writing a legal thriller is certainly something new for me. However, I have not yet had sufficient experience or inspiration to make a series something that is realistic."

She couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, not only was he trying to make a single book with her as inspiration but a whole series. That could take years. She will never do anything for Henry again. Not if this is how he repays her.

"And how do you plan to do this if I refuse to let you follow me?" Beckett asks hoping that her boss will back her up.

"Oh dear, Kate, did you really think that I wouldn't have consulted with your superiors before coming to you with this." The facial expression Beckett gave it away, she was stuck with him. "I called Henry when I got home last night, clued him in on my proposal to which he approved of the idea so took it to your other superiors and bingo. Here I am." Castle smugly told her.

Still in shock she put her hands together as if she was praying then covered her mouth and end of her nose to try to hide her reaction of shock and anger at her superiors mumbling numerous expletives under her breath. She never thought that they would for a moment go for such an outlandish proposal.

Deciding she needed actual confirmation from her superiors face to face, rather than solely on the word of some diligent writer, she locked her computer and proceeded to make her way along the corridor to see Henry first. She didn't need to make a fool of herself in front of John if it hadn't actually got any further than Henry. She didn't even need to turn around to see that Castle was hot on her heels. She really wished that she hadn't worn her current outfit today as it might just fill him with more ideas.

She couldn't deal with pleasantries right now so on seeing that Henry was alone in his office barged right in then slamming the door so that Castle wouldn't follow. She turned the lock to make sure he couldn't enter either.

"Good morning, Kate, what can I do for you?" Henry greeted in an even more cheeky tone from someone who she thought was her friend.

"I think you have a pretty good idea, Henry," Kate started, not quite shouting but certainly her voice was raised. "Why have you given Castle the nod for him to follow me? And not only that you made sure it was okay with John too."

"It seemed like a good idea, everyone knows that you could do with some light hearted fun while at work." Henry defended, still smiling as much as Castle had earlier. If not more so than Castle.

"Do you not think I've got enough on?" Kate asked knowing her high workload.

"He'll be fine. He calms down eventually. Besides he likes you."

"Clearly. Why'd you tell him about my coffee too? He'll not stop." Kate stressed knowing that he'd have an excuse every single day to turn up.

"Look, Kate, I thought it would be great so I took it to John and he agreed. Something along the lines of we could do with more positive publicity. After that case got messed up by our ex-colleague and frankly people love you. Who knows he might even be the one. It would certainly get your parents off your back."

Seriously, he was bringing that up? No way. Never. They wouldn't work. Just no. Nope. Not ever.

"So what am I? A partner in this firm or just something to be fed to the press both legal and print to give the firm a leg up?" Kate ranted further, beginning to question her actual role in the firm. If it was the latter then maybe she didn't want to be here.

Realising his dear colleague's frustration Henry moved to stand next to her inviting her to sit on the seats behind her. Noticing that Castle was looking in, he closed the blinds allowing them just a bit of privacy.

Henry sat next her taking her hand hoping to convey his sincerity, "Kate, you're a highly valued member of this firm. We wouldn't have promoted you to partner without full confidence in your ability to handle it as well as dealing with some of the toughest cases that we deal with. Your ambition is clear for all to see and we wanted to be the firm that helped you go places. You have the potential to be so much more than many of us here.

"You're being noticed and not just by the press, you don't need to know about the amount of people who have requested you represent their cases but also the other firms who tried to approach you but they had to go through us before contacting you."

"So why add the complication of Castle?"

"I couldn't see a huge problem although I didn't think John and co would actually go for it. As long as he doesn't release information that could influence cases then we don't see the problem with it. If for nothing else you could use him as your personal assistant making him copy things or making coffee for people."

"I certainly could do with a PA." Kate joked, it would help get rid of the menial jobs.

"I know your dream is to be the first female Chief Justice," Kate looks back in surprise, "yes I heard you and your mother once. This book, it wouldn't be published without the okay from us as we wouldn't want us put at risk nor for you to be embarrassed. We'll review the situation in a month, which he has agreed to as well so if there's a problem then he'll go or he'll sort it out but he's a good man, Kate, give him a chance."

"Okay, but if it gets too much you promise that he'll be gone?" Kate asks having finally conceded that Castle following her is going to happen and she can't do anything about it now.

"Promise."

"Right, I better go tell him the bad news."

"What bad news?"

"I need a lot of copying done today."

Henry just laughs in response glad to see that Kate is accepting it and taking his advice.

Leaving Henry's office with a sly smile on her face, she notices instantly that her tag along is still sat outside. "C'mon, Castle, we've got work to do."

"We've got a case?" He asks excitedly.

"Something like that."

He's back on her heels, standing just behind her to the side eager to see what they're doing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Any constructive feedback is appreciated.


End file.
